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PHP Courses
Posted: Wed May 22, 2002 7:05 am
by Dai
Awhile back I asked if anyone was interested in producing a course on PHP. Jason said he was very interested. Personally I think the web is screaming out for such a course, even the
http://w3.softlookup.com/index.html don't have one on PHP everything else exept PHP nor do php.net or zend.com. Now don't get me wrong there are buckets full of tutes on sites like this one, but there's nothing done in a structured fashion that takess you from the start in serires of steps like you get in a book like book like beginning php4 or similar.
If you think of it this way the more structured courses there are, the better the chance of any college or univercity taking the subject serious, and producing there own structured PHP courses. With the result of the subject being taken seriously by the establishment and proper recognised qualifications in PHP.
If you have any thoughts on this subject I'd be more than happy to hear them.
dai@doneasy.com
Posted: Wed May 22, 2002 7:51 am
by enygma
Well, I know Jason might actually be working on something....
And, we (the PHPDN folks) had thought at one point about doing an online class, possibly in IRC or a set of pages that shows you how to get started, but there never was much interest.
One problem with it all is - how far do you go with it? How do you teach people PHP without having to teach them programming too? You want a class that will give someone the basic ideas behind how PHP works and what the language is really made for - then, they can go out, work on their own and improve their skills.
There'll always be people out there that think that, since PHP is such an easy language, that they can just pick it up and do anything with it. The trick is it teach these people that it's not about the ease of the language - it's about making the language work for you (as it is with any programming). PHP can make mountains turn into molehills - or it can do just the opposite in the hands of a bad programmer.
If there was a class done (a few weeks), I'd suggest it be done like this:
- first week: intro to PHP, how it works, how to install, how to make connections to the outside world
- second week: common functions, programming structure, syntax details
- third week: the "elegant programming" approach... "don't use 7 words when 4 will do"
Suggested texts: PHP pocket ref, larger o'Reilly PHP book, or others
This is just a rough outline of what I'd suggest be done....not that I'm offering to teach (I might be fun though).
Comments/Suggestions?
Posted: Wed May 22, 2002 8:30 am
by jason
Yup, I want to do something like that. You know, just with everything else I have to do, it's difficult to setup the time. If people are really honestly interested, I will put some time into developing some sort of "curriculum" for it.
Honestly, I always liked the 12 week approach. 11 classes, with the 6th or 7th being skipped as a holiday type thing.
The big question is the size of the class, time frame, materials, server room, etc. I will think about it, but any suggestions?
Posted: Wed May 22, 2002 9:16 am
by Matt Wade
You might be interested to know that there is a course that David Chiao developed at ucla. You can check out the course schedule here:
http://www.bol.ucla.edu/~dchiao/Course/PHP/php.htm
Posted: Wed May 22, 2002 12:16 pm
by mgkimsal
*Part* of our course is up at
http://www.zorka.com - look for tutorial stuff. This is a year out of date, and we've changed a lot - this represents possibly 30% of our manual used in our weeklong PHP courses.
http://www.tapinternet.com/php has more info. We've kicked around an online course idea as well, and it always gets shelved for one reason or another. If anyone is interested in an online class, let me know, and we'll notify you if/when we do one. Also, if anyone is interested in actually attending our 5 day course, contact me at 1-866-745-3660 (toll free) - we've had a cancellation and have some seats somewhat cheaper than our standard price right now.
Posted: Wed May 22, 2002 12:20 pm
by jason
Okay....just to let all potential guardians of PHPDN forums know..this is what I consider to be a Good commercial type post. Yes, he promotes his service....however, this service is posted directly to a question.

Posted: Wed May 22, 2002 12:24 pm
by volka
agreed

PHP Couses
Posted: Wed May 22, 2002 2:53 pm
by Dai
The 12 week course schedule sounds good to me. I know the the post from
http://www.zorka.com use yahoo course as a vehichle for teaching there course along with another course on PHP in Indonesian language. they are the only two who use the yahoo courses. the only other course site that I've found to date is
http://coursesites.blackboard.com/ But I've always found this site difficult to use and don't know the quality of what they offer.